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William Wetmore Story
William Wetmore Story (February 12, 1819 - October 7, 1895) was an American poet, sculptor, art critic, and editor. Life Overview Story, born at Salem, [Massachusetts, was intended for the law, but became a sculptor and an eminent man of letters. His writings include Roba di Roma (1862), The Tragedy of Nero (1875), The Castle of St. Angelo (1877), He and She (1883), Conversations in a Studio, A Poet's Portfolio (1894), etc. Youth and education Story, son of jurist Joseph Story, was born at Salem, Massachusetts, on 12 February 1819. He graduated from Harvard College in 1838 and from Harvard Law School in 1840, and continued his law studies under his father.Britannica 1911, 25, 970. Career Story was admitted to the Massachusetts bar, and prepared 2 legal treatises of value — Treatise on the Law of Contracts not under Seal (2 volumes, 1844) and Treatise on the Law of Sales of Personal Property (1847). Abandoning the law, he devoted himself to sculpture, and after 1850 lived in Rome, where he had 1st gone in 1848, and where he was friendly with the Brownings and with Landor. He was a man of rare social cultivation and charm of manner, and his studio in Rome was a center for the gathering of distinguished English and American literary, musical and artistic people. During the American Civil War his letters to the Daily News in December 1861 (afterwards published as a pamphlet, “The American Question,” i.e. of neutrality), and his articles in Blackwood's Magazine, had considerable influence on English opinion. 1 of his earliest works in sculpture was a statue of his father, now in the memorial chapel of Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Mass.; others are “Cleopatra” (of which there is an enthusiastic description in Hawthorne's Marble Faun) and “Semiramis” in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the “Libyan Sibil,” “Saul,” “Sardanapalus,” “Judith,” “Delilah,” “Jerusalem Desolate,” “Alcestis,” “Medea,” “Electra,” “Nemesis,” “Sappho ” and other ideal figures; and portraits of George Peabody, erected in 1869 in London (a replica in bronze being in Baltimore, Maryland); President Quincy of Harvard, at Cambridge, Mass.; Colonel Prescott, at Bunker Hill; Edward Everett, Public Gardens, Boston, Mass.; Chief Justice Marshall, on the west terrace of the Capitol, and Professor Henry for the Smithsonian Institution, Washington; and Francis Scott Key, San Francisco. He died at Vallombroso, Italy, on 7 October 1895. Story died at Vallombrosa Abbey, Italy; a place to which he had a sentimental attachment, and which he chronicled in an informal travel journal, [http://archive.org/stream/vallombrosa00storgoog#page/n54/mode/2up%7C Vallombrosa] in 1881. He is buried with his wife, Emelyn Story, in the Protestant Cemetery, Rome, under a statue of his own design (Angel of Grief). His son, Julian Story, the portrait painter, was a pupil of Frank Duveneck, and of Boulanger and Lefebvre in Paris, and became a member of the Society of American Artists, 1892, a chevalier of the Legion of Honour, Paris, 1901, and an associate of the National Academy of Design. He married in 1891 Emma Eames (born 1867), the operatic prima donna, who secured a divorce in 1907. Writing Among his writings, in addition to the legal treatises mentioned above, are Life and Letters of Joseph Story (1851), Roba di Roma (1862), Proportions of the Human Figure (1866), Fiammetta (1885, a novel), Conversations in a Studio (1890), Excursions in Art and Letters (1891), and several volumes of poems of considerable merit. His poems were collected in 2 volumes in 1885. Among the longer are “A Roman Lawyer in Jerusalem” (a rehabilitation of Judas Iscariot), “A Jewish Rabbi in Rome,” “The Tragedy of Nero” and “Ginevra di Siena.” The last named, with “Cleopatra,” was included in his Graffiti d'Italia, a collection published in 1868. Recognition American philosopher Henry James wrote a memoir,William Wetmore Story and His Friends (2 volumes, London, 1903). Publications Poetry *''Nature and Art. Boston: C.C. Little & J. Brown, 1844. *Poems. Boston: C.C. Little & J. Brown, 1847.Poems (1847), Internet Archive. Web, Apr. 28, 2013. *Poems. Boston: Little, Brown, 1856 (different from 1847 volume). *A Roman Lawyer in Jerusalem, First century. Boston: Loring, 1870. **republished as ''In Defence of Judas. New York: Philosophical Press, 1902. *''Ode: On the anniversary of the fifth half century of the landing of Gov. John Endicott. Salem, MA: Salem Press, 1878. *''Poems. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin / Cambridge, MA: Riverside Press, 1885; London: Blackwood, 1885 (different from 1847 and 1856 volumes). Volume I: Parchments & Portraits, Volume II: Monologues & Lyrics Plays *''Second Thoughts: A comedy in three acts''. New York, 1878. *''Stephanie: A tragedy in five acts, with a prologue''. Edinburgh: Blackwood, 1875? *''Nero: An historical play. New York: Scrigner, Welford & Armstrong; Edinburgh & London: Blackwood, 1875. Fiction *He and She; or, A poet's portfolio. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1883. *Fiametta: a summer idyl. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1886. *A Poet's Portfolio: Later readings. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1894. Non-fiction *A Treatise on the Law of Contracts not under seal. Boston: C.C. Little and J. Brown, 1844. *A Treatise on the Law of Sales of Personal Property: With illustrations from the foreign law. Boston: C.C. Little and J. Brown, 1847; London: Stevens & North, 1847. *''A Treatise on the Law of Contracts. (2 volumes), Boston: Little, Brown, 1856. Volume I, Volume II. * Proportions of the Human Figure. London: Chapman & Hall, 1864 *''Roba di Roma''. London: Chapman & Hall; New York: D. Appleton, 1864. Volume I, Volume II. *''Graffiti d'Italia. New York: Scribner, 1868. *Castle St. Angelo and the Evil Eye: Being additional chapters to 'Roba di Roma'. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott; London: Chapman & Hall, 1877. *Vallombrosa. Edbinburgh & London: Blackwell, 1881; Firenze, Italy: Clinamen, 2002. * ''Conversations in a Studio. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1890. Volume I, Volume II. * Excursions in Art and Letters. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1891. Edited *Joseph Story, Commentaries on the conflict of laws, foreign and domestic in regard to contracts, rights and remedies. Boston: C.C. Little and J. Brown, 1846; London: A. Maxwell, 1846. * Life and Letters of Joseph Story. Boston: C.C. Little & J. Brown, 1851. Volume I, Volume II. *''The Miscellaneous Writings of Joseph Story. Boston: C.C. Little & J. Brown, 1852. ''Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:William Wetmore Story, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Apr. 28, 2013. See also *List of U.S. poets References * . Wikisource, Web, Mar. 6, 2018. * James, H., William Wetmore Story and his Friends, 2 vols, London, 1903 * Phillips, M., Reminiscences of William Wetmore Story, the American Sculptor and Author, Chicago, 1897 Notes External links ;Poems *"Praxiteles and Phryne" *William Wetmore Story in An American Anthology 1787-1900: "Cleopatra," "Io Victis," "Praxiteles and Phryne" * William Wetmore Story (1819-1895) at Sonnet Central *William Wetmore Story at PoemHunter (4 poems) ;Books * *Works by William Wetmore Story at Internet Archive *William Wetmore Story at Amazon.com ;About *William Wetmore Story at Strangers to Us All: Lawyers and poetry *William Wetmore Story at NNDB *William Wetmore Story at Artcyclopedia * . Original article is at "Story, William Wetmore" Category:American sculptors Category:American art critics Category:American poets Category:Harvard University alumni Category:Harvard Law School alumni Category:1819 births Category:1895 deaths Category:Burials in the Protestant Cemetery, Rome Category:19th-century poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets